The application relates generally to a system providing hydraulic power and/or pneumatic power and/or electric power as a permanent installation at a work site or as a portable system for temporary operation at a work site.
Hydraulic fracturing, sometimes called “fracing” or “fracking” is a process for increasing the flow of oil or gas from a well. Fracking typically involves pumping specific types of liquids into a well, under pressures that are high enough to fracture the rock forming interconnected fractures that serve as pore spaces for the movement of oil and natural gas to a wellbore. Known hydraulic fracturing equipment used in oil and natural gas fields typically includes a large number of equipment and components, for example, blenders, high-volume fracturing pumps, monitoring units, material tanks, hoses, pipes, electronics systems, lighting, power units and backup power units required for known day and/or night fracturing operations.
Known fracturing operations require considerable operational infrastructure, including large investments in fracturing equipment and related personnel. Notably, standard transportable pumping units require large volumes of diesel fuel and extensive equipment maintenance programs. Typically, each transportable pumping unit on site requires either a tractor with a power take off (“PTO”) or an alternative engine to start the pumping unit engine. At the time of this application, in the United States of America each tractor requires at least one U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) driver. Drivers must operate on the highways, hauling equipment on and off work sites. A potentially large fleet of tractor trailers, e.g., semi-trailer trucks, necessary for fracturing operations can cause work site congestion and may impact the local community in terms of traffic congestion and road-surface wear and tear. A large fleet of tractor trailers also often times results in too many people being on location at a well site. While some drivers may have other on-site responsibilities, other personnel have little to do but sit in the cabin of the tractor during fracturing operations. A well site can be a dangerous place and having twenty (20) to fifty (50) non-essential personnel on location often poses safety issues and increases operating expenses.
With average fracturing operations requiring as many as fifty transportable pumping units operating concurrently, the work site area, or “footprint”, required to accommodate such fracturing operations is large and the operational infrastructure required to support these fracturing operations is extensive. Greater efficiency in fracturing operations is desired.